Bin Laden Reportedly Back at Helm of al Qaeda

Tue Aug 27,10:12 AM ET

By Michael Georgy

LONDON (Reuters) - Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites) is firmly back in command of al Qaeda and the group is digging in for guerrilla attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan ( news - web sites), an Arab journalist with close ties to the militant's associates said on Tuesday.

Abdel-Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, said al Qaeda associates recently told him the network had regained confidence after facing intense U.S. bombing and was ready to fight U.S. troops over the long haul.

"Al Qaeda were shattered during the U.S. bombing so it was difficult for bin Laden to stay in control. Now they said he is fully in command again and they have regrouped and are organized again," Atwan told Reuters.

"Al Qaeda people say they are relaxed now and they will fight a war of attrition against U.S. soldiers," added Atwan, who interviewed bin Laden in 1996 and keeps in contact with his associates and followers.

Bin Laden was in good health and "safe" and was planning new attacks on the United States, he was told, but his whereabouts were not disclosed.

The United States launched strikes on Afghanistan last year to flush out al Qaeda and hunt down bin Laden, its prime suspect in the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington, and punish the Taliban regime that protected him.

But remnants of al Qaeda and their Taliban allies have continually frustrated the U.S.-led coalition by hiding in mountains, melting into the local population or fleeing into neighboring Pakistan or Iran.

Atwan said that the al Qaeda and Taliban had re-established links that were severed when the United States began its military campaign in Afghanistan.

"They are working together again. They are organizing," he said.

There is no trail, meanwhile, leading to bin Laden.

Bin Laden's associates told Atwan that the Saudi-born militant was well, "safe" and planning new attacks on the United States. They did not say where bin Laden was currently living.

"My sense is that he will time any new attack to coincide with a U.S. attack on Iraq. He would want to capitalize on this to appeal to the Arab street so he will probably delay any attacks until the United States moves on Iraq," said Atwan.

"He will probably want to be seen as the only Arab standing up to the United States when the United States attacks Iraq."

Bin Laden made a series of defiant videotapes broadcast on television as U.S. warplanes pounded Afghanistan. But he has recently stayed out of sight.

His associates said Bin Laden, who has a $25 million U.S. bounty on his head, was well protected but his entourage was small in order to avoid capture, said Atwan.

"He is the master of disguise and he is making sure that he is not giving anything away so he travels in a small group," he said.

Bin Laden's top aide Ayman al-Zawahri, the Egyptian-born chief strategist of al Qaeda, was with him along with a small group of militant bodyguards, Atwan was told.

-- more doom coming (head for @ bunkers. now!), August 27, 2002

Answers

""My sense is that he will time any new attack to coincide with a U.S. attack on Iraq."

Dickhead said yesterday that it was "flawed logic" to not attack Iraq as soon as possible. Seems to me that the most logical thing to do would be to find and kill Bin Laden FIRST, then go after Saddam if he is viewed as a threat. The most immediate threat is Bin Laden, particularly if we attack Iraq, since this will almost guarantee that we will be counter-attacked. By postponing Dumbya's hellbent mission to finish what his wimpy-ass father never did, many American citizens will be spared. Why doesn't Dumbya finish the job HE started first, before he tries to finish what his daddy never did?

-- (like father like son @ both. wimpy dipshits), August 27, 2002.

-- (to@the.top), September 03, 2002.

cuz Osama yer mama died last October of AIDS and complications to his liver from drinking too much camel urine. Dumbya needs a scapegoat. It's either Sandman or US Citizens

-- (anotherbrick@the.wall), September 04, 2002.

Intruder Sparks Terrorist Alert at Munitions Depot Thu Sep 5, 7:30 PM ET

By James Nelson

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) - An intruder sparked a "terrorist alert" on Thursday at a military compound in Utah housing the world's largest stockpile of chemical and gas munitions, and was still on the loose hours later.

The alarm at the complex sounded at 9:24 a.m. MDT (11:24 a.m. EDT), warning local residents and curtailing operations after a man in dark clothing was spotted in the compound, officials said.

The Deseret Chemical Depot, about 30 miles west of Salt Lake City, stores World War II-era chemical and gas munitions that are scheduled to be destroyed.

Military officials said the man was spotted one mile from the chemical storage area twice by four National Guard soldiers patrolling the area.

When the patrolling soldiers turned their Humvee toward him, he ran off toward a creek.

Officials said that although the man was still at large, the complex was returning to normal.

"Right now we have no indication he is still there but we continue measures to sweep the depot to make sure he is not still there," Col. Peter Cooper, commander of the depot, told reporters at a briefing.

"We're transitioning back to normal operations," he added.

"Let's make sure that we understand that we're talking about the outer boundary," Cooper said.

"We're not talking about the chemical storage area. He never got close to the chemical storage area at all. We're talking just inside the depot boundary which actually has a four strand barbed wire fence around it," Cooper added.

RESIDENTS AND SCHOOLS WARNED

Officials could not explain how an intruder managed to get inside the high-security complex, located in a vast and very remote area known as Dugway Proving Ground in the desert with thick sagebrush growing.

"At this time we cannot confirm an intruder. It has been a reported sighting only," Cooper said. "We are pretty sure we cleared the depot. We don't know who it was. We don't know if it was an employee who was where he was not supposed to be or what."

As soon as the man was spotted, an alert sounded to warn area residents and schools.

"There is no danger to the public, no threat to the public," said Wade Matthews, a Tooele County Emergency Management official.

Schools were notified of the warning but remained in session and residents were told that the possible break-in did not represent a safety risk.

It was the first time that the alarm, which alerts employees to possible terror threats, had been sounded since new security measures were put in place after the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Police set up a roadblock on state roads leading to the compound and a Utah Department of Public Safety helicopter was called in to assist with the search.

The area is typically under high security. Routine operations at the facility include dismantling and destruction of chemical weapons.

-- (next time @ millions. will die), September 06, 2002.

Trespasser Alert Shuts Chemical Depot Thu Sep 5, 7:04 PM ET

By PAUL FOY, Associated Press Writer

TOOELE, Utah (AP) - Officials at an Army depot where nerve gas and other chemical weapons are stored found no trace of a reported intruder after a terrorist alert was sounded Thursday.

Col. Peter Cooper, commander of the Deseret Chemical Depot, said the security of the depot was never at risk and that the person didn't get close to the chemical storage area.

"At this time we cannot confirm an intruder," Cooper said. "Right now we are pretty sure we've cleared the depot. We're not sure if it was an employee who was not in the right area."

The person fled after being spotted within the heavily guarded perimeter by four soldiers during two separate patrols, Cooper said. By late afternoon, officials were still searching the depot grounds for the possible intruder.

In Washington, a senior administration official speaking on condition of anonymity said there was no evidence that anything was stolen or that terrorism was involved.

The apparent trespasser, dressed in dark clothing, was sighted within a fenced area between the stored chemicals and the outer perimeter, authorities said.

Sheriff's deputies set up a roadblock around the depot after the alarm sounded at 9:24 a.m. and state law officers used a helicopter to search the grounds. There were no evacuations of the depot or surrounding areas.

The depot, which is about 45 miles southwest of Salt Lake City and covers 19,000 acres of mostly barren, wind-swept desert dominated by sagebrush, stores chemical weapons such as nerve gas and mustard gas. It has been destroying a stockpile of deadly chemical weapons since 1996.

Earlier this year, it finished destroying the largest stockpile of sarin nerve gas in the United States. It is scheduled to destroy 1,300 tons of VX, a more toxic but less volatile nerve agent, and 6,100 tons of mustard gas, a blister agent that can dissolve tissue on contact.

-- (not destroyed yet? @ uh-oh. bad news), September 06, 2002.

The administration's office of "misinformation" is working overtime in the effort to distract American Citizens from the state of the country Jr. Jackoff and his groupies have put it into. Cute how the first thing this dis-information office did was mis-inform us about it's demise. The wording of the "reported sighting" of Usama bin Ladin is extremely familiar, wording such as "the network had regained confidence" ...excuse me, but those terrorists did not loose "confidence", they were more pissed as we fought them, and then the statement "My sense is that he will time any new attack to coincide with a U.S. attack on Iraq.Geeze, that vague excuse for lack of fact is trademark right wing rhetoric and common on every faux "weekend morning "news" program.

What is your sense of the amount of weapons of mass destruction Saddam suddenly has?

Amazing that with all of the satellite technology that has existed, that now we are worried about the existence of devices that have gone unnoticed for the past 4 years.

This is bullshit, or more to the point, bushit.

Even you most hard-core bush backers have got to admit this country has gone downhill since monkeypants was weaseled into office.

Even the most conservative republican does not want a return to the unchecked pollution that poisoned our rivers and lakes.

Anyone with half a brain knows you don't cut down the forests to stop forest fires. And now it is illegal to voice your opposition to anything bushbaby and his corrupt insiders decides to do, no matter how much it harms our country or the world.

The freekin moron is out of control, he gets an idea in his head and thinks he has the right to demand it, even if it is against the constitution or the ideals on which this country was founded.

Scared yet? Are we at war? Yes when it is convenient, and no when it applies to rules of war.

The entire world is going to be effected simply because Bush Junior want's to prove something to his Daddy. There is something seriously wrong in the head of the dry drunk in Al Gore's White house.

-- Cherri (whatever@who.cares), September 07, 2002.